Thoughts on writing, reading, and poetry. With the occasional diversion, bien sûr.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Little Hoot by Amy Krause Rosenthal and Jen Corace

I generally listen to the opinion of booksellers, and so I was pleased to take one of my favorite booksellers up on her recommendation that I read Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Jen Corace.

Little Hoot is a young owl from a conventional owl family. He attends school, of course, so he knows what other youngsters are up to. And he knows that they all go to bed at a reasonable time.

Why can't he go to bed at a reasonable time, too?

But no, Mom and Dad both insist that he stay up just one . . . more . . . hour.

You simply must read this book. MUST, do you hear me? Because the dialogue and the story and the illustrations are all pitch-perfect. The parents sound like parents, Little Hoot and friends play like real kids, and the pictures are so cute that you really, really want to squish the little owl in a squishy, huggy way.

I'd say more, but I see that Betsey Bird at Fuse #8 has already done so, so I say - Go. Read her review. And then, read the book.

About Me

I'm a poet and children's book author. My current projects are a biography of Jane Austen written in verse using period forms and an early middle grade novel involving garden gnomes. (And yes, these are separate projects. Thus far, I've found no evidence of interaction between Jane Austen and any gnomes.)